2Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, İstanbul University-Cerrahpaşa, Cerrahpaşa Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul- Türkiye
3Department of Radiation Oncology, Sakarya Regional Training and Research Hospital, Sakarya-Türkiye DOI : 10.5505/tjo.2023.4162 OBJECTIVE
Nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) in childhood is rare. In this study, we retrospectively report the results of adolescent and childhood NPC patients treated with different doses of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and 3D-conformal radiotherapy (RT) (3D-RT).
METHODS
Between 2007 and 2020, 20 patients were included in our study, 18 of whom received induction chemotherapy
before chemoradiotherapy (CRT) (n=16) or RT (n=2). High-risk planning target volumes of
61.2 Gy (complete or good partial response) and 63?70 Gy (partial response) included the primary
tumor and metastatic lymph nodes. Survival analyses were made using the Kaplan?Meier method.
RESULTS
The median follow-up time was 107 months (range: 6?168). The median age was 16 years (range 11?22).
All patients had a complete response after CRT. The 5-year local control, disease-free survival, and overall
survival were 100%. One patient developed distant metastasis (bone) at 62 months of treatment.
There were no grade 4 acute side effects. Acute and late toxicity were observed lower in patients treated
by dose reduction with IMRT.
CONCLUSION
In our study, over 60% of patients were treated with IMRT and dose reduction. Although lower-dose
RT was administered, local-regional control was excellent, and the incidence rate of side effects was low.